So I made a poll asking what character people would want to play as, and surprisingly a lot of people want to play as an ODST again. Now to front load the topic a little to avoid misconceptions Halo Infinite (Halo 6) should be continuing the Master Cheif’s story first and foremost so I don’t expect playing as an ODST at launch is a good thing but I could see it as a latter addition and DLC. The campaign could be monetized while multiplayer modes be added in like ODST Swat (UNSC weapon ODST models and systems) and ODST Firefight. I still believe Halo Infinite is going to be a platform to launch other games within much like MCC, but first thing is Halo Infinite needs to be a good Halo 6 game.
That’s out of the way I want to talk about one issue I did have with ODST and that was the Stamina system or just a different name for shields that are much weaker. Bungie attempted to capture the vulnerability of these mere humans who’s heroism is the only advantage they have in a galaxy full of alien monsters that can snap them like a twig. Too many times I often forget I was not playing as the Master Chief or some Spartan because the same loop I had already done time and time again, take damage get to cover, pop out and shoot.
One thing I think could be tried is to make the stamina system work as both stamina and shields. As long as you have stamina you can sprint, you can clamber (but make the animation longer than 8 seconds also not as high) even do assassination animations against enemies like Brutes, not to mention stamina will go down if you take damage. If you are out of stamina you start to take health damage but your melee attacks are much weaker and you can’t jump as well. Now of course that means actions like running will lower your hit points which makes as much sense as explaining why a stake impaled in your chest just leaves you winded. However it increases the vulnerabilities but allowing stamina to be more than a shield also demonstrates the determination that these elite marines posses. It doesn’t increase the realism but that is subjective as Halo’s health system has always been somewhere between abstraction and simplification (for more information see this video from GDC on health systems) but I would like ODSTs to return but not as a replacement for Spartans or even an equal counterpart to Brutes but in a way just expand the univers of Halo that Bungie tried to do nearly a decade ago.
So what are your thoughts on this?
While I’m a bit wary of the idea of tying shields and movement together I do like the way you are thinking. I found just tying shield recharge to sprint in Halo 5 to be unpleasant and unintuitive and this sounds like it could be even more frustrating in some ways. Funnily enough though I am completely fine with ODSTs being able to sprint and clamber even though I dislike their inclusion when it comes to mainline Halo titles involving Spartans, an opinion that I’m sure must make a certain type of person’s head explode.
Ultimately I think the biggest hurdle to playing as ODSTs in a mainline title is the fact it is hard to balance what should be a different type of experience within the confines of a core Halo game(even DLC) without them ending up as just mini spartans. Ultimately I think it would be a bit more creatively liberating to continue to use spin off titles for ODST adventures. Especially if it had time to develop as its own game rather than just a year of development that was heavily tied to Halo 3.
As far as health systems go despite being fine with the inclusion of “new” mechanics like sprint or clamber, I think the best solution for an ODST health system would be to actually go even more old school and use a health/armor system ala DOOM and friends. At the very least it would create an interesting contrast between regenerating Spartans and resource based(health pack and armor plates) ODSTs.
> 2666640315087182;1:
> So I made a poll asking what character people would want to play as, and surprisingly a lot of people want to play as an ODST again. Now to front load the topic a little to avoid misconceptions Halo Infinite (Halo 6) should be continuing the Master Cheif’s story first and foremost so I don’t expect playing as an ODST at launch is a good thing but I could see it as a latter addition and DLC. The campaign could be monetized while multiplayer modes be added in like ODST Swat (UNSC weapon ODST models and systems) and ODST Firefight. I still believe Halo Infinite is going to be a platform to launch other games within much like MCC, but first thing is Halo Infinite needs to be a good Halo 6 game.
>
> That’s out of the way I want to talk about one issue I did have with ODST and that was the Stamina system or just a different name for shields that are much weaker. Bungie attempted to capture the vulnerability of these mere humans who’s heroism is the only advantage they have in a galaxy full of alien monsters that can snap them like a twig. Too many times I often forget I was not playing as the Master Chief or some Spartan because the same loop I had already done time and time again, take damage get to cover, pop out and shoot.
>
> One thing I think could be tried is to make the stamina system work as both stamina and shields. As long as you have stamina you can sprint, you can clamber (but make the animation longer than 8 seconds also not as high) even do assassination animations against enemies like Brutes, not to mention stamina will go down if you take damage. If you are out of stamina you start to take health damage but your melee attacks are much weaker and you can’t jump as well. Now of course that means actions like running will lower your hit points which makes as much sense as explaining why a stake impaled in your chest just leaves you winded. However it increases the vulnerabilities but allowing stamina to be more than a shield also demonstrates the determination that these elite marines posses. It doesn’t increase the realism but that is subjective as Halo’s health system has always been somewhere between abstraction and simplification (for more information see this video from GDC on health systems) but I would like ODSTs to return but not as a replacement for Spartans or even an equal counterpart to Brutes but in a way just expand the univers of Halo that Bungie tried to do nearly a decade ago.
>
> So what are your thoughts on this?
Best case scenario, no like in halo3odst, and just make health packs more readily available. Let me think and read on this and get back to you.